An Accountant Reacts to a $1.3 Million Love Scam and Our Own Timeshare Regrets

It is Thursday, September 17th.The Federal Reserve raised interest rates yesterday, and that could make the credit card debt you're already carrying more expensive.State farm is sending $5 billion back to people who had auto insurance with them in 2025, including people who have since switched companies.And if you bought a house through an MLS since 2006, you may be part of a settlement with an October 27 deadline to file a claim.Plus, we talk about timeshares, and, boy, we have some stories and thoughts.And today, we're trying something new.A new segment called An Accountant Reacts.I'm going to put Ralph on the spot with questions he has not been able to see ahead of time.Welcome to becoming financially confident, where we are breaking free from money.Shame.One conversation at a time.

Yeah.I'm Ralph Estep Jr.I'm a licensed public accountant with 30 years of experience.

And I'm Juliette.I'm just a regular person who's going to ask Ralph all my questions.

Yeah, because you might have those questions, too.And the thing you need to understand is we're two very different people having conversations about the things that affect our money, and they affect your money as well.Now, we've got two house rules here.There's no shaming anybody about money, and nobody's going to be judged for what they didn't know.Today's a new day, and our goal is to equip you to help you make better decisions moving forward.

Just a reminder, this is a live show where we want to have conversations with everybody about money.So if you have a question, please send it to us@becomingfinanciallyconfident.com no question about finance is off limits.

And just remember, wherever you are on your financial journey, you're not alone, and we're walking right alongside with you.

The Federal Reserve raised interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point yesterday, bringing the target range to 3.75 to 4%.If you have a credit card balance, that matters, because most credit cards have variable interest rates.When the Fed raises rates, those card rates generally go up, too.So, Ralph, let's break this down, because I have no idea what a quarter of an interest point means.What does this rate increase actually mean for somebody who is already carrying a credit card balance?And what, if anything, should they do about it?

Yeah, this is a really important thing, because really, two things are going on here.Thing number one is this signals that the idea that we were going to see rates come down, I think you can say that that ship is sailed.That's not going.Yeah.So rates, rates are definitely not going to come down.And what this really tells us, if you have anything that has a variable interest rate.Let me explain the two things.Absolutely.So there are really two types of interest rates.There's a fixed rate, which means it's fixed for the term of the loan.A lot of mortgages are fixed rate, like a 30 year fixed rate loan.

Right, right.

What we're talking about here, things that are variable rate.A variable rate means it changes.And here's the important thing you need to understand.Variable rates are generally tied to the prime rate.The prime rate is what the Fed sets and that's what the Fed just did.They basically increased the prime rate by quarter of a point, which meaning that.So it was at three and a half, now it's between 3.75 and 4.So if you've got a variable rate loan, like a credit card or some mortgage loans are called, you know, are not.They're variable rate loans as well.What this means is that your interest rate is going up.So the way that variable rates generally work is it's the prime rate plus a margin.That is a margin that the lender set.So let's say you have a credit card and you can go look at your credit card disclosure form.It will actually say to you, hey, this is the interest rate today based on today's prime rate.So if the prime rate just went up by a quarter of a point or 0.25, then what you can expect is your credit card rates are going to go up.

And they don't notify the consumers.Right.They're just like, hey, this is, we put this in the fine print.It's based off the primary.

Yeah.And I'm going to talk about that in a second because there's somewhere you can look for this.So here's what you need to do.Don't get stressed out about filing the prime rate, but there's one thing you can do.Find your cardholder agreement.It's in the app under your card details or it came in the mail.And look at what's called the Schumer box.There's a senator named Chuck Schumer and Chuck Schumer was the one who put this legislation together.There's a table at the top that tells you what the rate is.If your APR is written as prime plus anything, that means it's variable and that means the number can move without them asking you.So it's just, it is what it is.You, when you sign the Agreement, that's what you got.You also might have this if you have a home equity line or a home equity line of credit.So check that one too.Most people forget about that one.But then pick.So, so here's the next thing I want you to do is if you feel like, oh my gosh, this is going to be a problem, then we need to start talking about getting those debts paid down.So that's when you start looking at the highest rate balance and put extra payments towards that and make sure you understand that this is something we have to be aware of it because I actually think we're actually going to see more rate increases over the next few months.I really think you're.Yeah, because inflation is actually starting to grow a little bit.The housing market is going and what this is going to do, it's going to cool down the housing market, it's going to cool down inflation.So there's a new guy in charge of the Fed and I think this guy's got a different approach than others have had.And I know the Trump administration is not happy about this and I think it's sort of been baked in.I think the markets already were expecting this.So I don't see a big boomerang.But did you have any questions on that, Juliet?

No, I think this is completely understandable.

Very good.

This one is good news, which we actually don't say often enough.State Farm Mutual is paying $5 billion back to auto consumers, the largest dividend in its 100 year plus history across more than 49 million vehicles.It is 4% to 10% of what you paid on a qualifying 2025 policy.It varies by state and the average being quoted is about $100 a vehicle.Most importantly, you do not have to stay still, be a State Farm customer.If you had that policy in 2025 and you left, the money is still yours.So, Ralph, how does somebody actually make sure any, any existing or previous State Farm customers actually make sure they get this?

Well, one of the things I want to talk about here is make sure that you update your address with them because that check could very well go to your old mailbox if you've moved.If they've got no email on file, they're probably going to send you a paper check automatically.And just think about 49 million emails with a login link.So this is a big deal.So here's what you want to do for three minutes today.Ask yourself some questions.Number one, did you have State Farm auto coverage at any point during 2025, even if it was part of the year, you would be entitled to this.If you haven't used State Farm, if you haven't done anything with State Farm, you can pretty much avoid this.Second thing.If the answer to that is yes, we're going to give you a website.It's SF meaning State Farm dividend dot com.Type that in yourself.Be very careful, don't do a search on Google for this because you might find one of those clowns trying to scam you.Or you can call the number 888-808-9532 and we'll put a link to that in the show notes.But confirm with them that they have your current address and your current email.There's nothing else you need to apply for.This is, this is one of those things where just make sure you understand what you're getting.And if you know somebody that switched carriers last year.

Right.

Mention to them, hey, we, we heard this on Ralph and Juliet show that you might be entitled to this.So this is one of those cool things that State Farm does.It's a hundred dollars per vehicle, but hey, a hundred dollars is $100.I think it's a great thing.

Yeah.And I think I just want to reiterate is like make sure there's so many scams out there.Make sure you are double checking those links.You should not have to pay to apply for this.Be safe out there, guys.

Absolutely.

If you have never bought a house, then this next thing we're talking about doesn't apply to you.But you should probably stay with us anyways.The national association of realtors and about 30 brokerages agree to pay $120,334,500 to home buyers who paid inflated broker commissions on a home listed on the MLS.If you bought a home listed on an MLS starting in 2006, you may be part of a settlement over broker commissions.Remember, this is only for home buyers, not sellers.And some people who qualify have until October 27th to file a claim.There's also a deadline today to opt out or object.So Ralph, couple of questions.Do you know what the, what MLS stands for?And then let's get into like who qualifies.Are there additional qualifications we didn't touch on?

Absolutely.So MLS means the Multi List Service and what that basically is.If you're a Realtor, you can list your properties that you're selling on this thing called the mls.In fact, my wife and I right now are thinking about moving.We're looking at different options.There's nothing serious yet.So we're actually going on to like realtor.com.Realtor.com takes you to the MLS.So.So the MLS is something that everybody who is aware of real estate would know.Here's what this is basically saying.They're basically doing this class action settlement because you may have been charged fees that you shouldn't have been charged.So if you bought a home and think about how big and how wide a swath this is, Juliet, if you bought a home in the last 20 years, that's what we're talking about here.Because they're going back to 2006.If you've bought a home, you may be entitled to get some of this settlement.So Julia told you $120 million.I threw a big number in there.Owner.I feel bad now, but it's a big number is going to be split along a lot of people.So I don't know that you're going to get a lot of money.It's paid over years.But here's the thing.Give yourself maybe a half an hour this weekend and think back.Since 2006, have you bought a home?Most people, if you bought a home, you probably had a broker that used mls.You know, that's where the commission got paid.So if you're affected by this, go to homebuyersettlement.com again, type that in for yourself.Homebuyersettlement.com don't click on an ad, don't click on anything else.And then start taking a look and seeing if you're affected by this.You're going to have to find some documents though, for this.You're going to have to go back and find the closing disclosure from when you bought the house.You also have to find the HUD one or you're going to have to find a recorded deed.Now, the recorded deed is actually the easiest thing to find because most states you can go out to the county and you can get a copy of that.So if you can't find any of those documents, you can call your local recorder of deeds or the title insurance company and go get those things.And remember, you have till October 27th to do this.

That's true.The three documents that you proposed, I mean, you mentioned, it's usually just like one or the other.Or is it like you have to have all three?

No, all of those things would be things that you would have.And here's the thing.When you ever bought a house, you go to the settlement table and it's like they're passing paper after paper after paper.

I mean, what I guess I've never bought.

There's a lot.I bought several houses and it's one of those things.Where am I going to sign anymore?Because my hand is hurting.You always are going to have a closing disclosure.You used to have a HUD one.I talked to a mortgage broker yesterday.He's actually going to join us on this show next Friday, by the way.And we were talking about how this whole process has changed.And then you've got to record a deed.Every property that is owned by someone has a deed that's recorded.That's how you convey the ownership from party A to party B.So you're going to have one of those things.I just think the recorded deed is probably going to be the easiest thing to find.But again, don't pay anybody for this.Go to that website, home homebuyer settlement.com, type it in for yourself.Which means, and I think about, as I say this because so many people, if they turn on their Google thing, it goes to AI.Anyway, what you want to do is you want to type in www.homebuyersettlement.com right in the address line.Because you could just type this in.It's still going to do that search.And you may end up with one of these clowns trying to charge you money to do it.So just be aware of that.I hate that we live in that kind of atmosphere, but unfortunately, that's where we are today.

So this last one is not really just news.It's a free thing worth 10 minutes.Two of the three things we just talked about above arrive in the same way as a piece of paper in the mailbox on a day that you're not at home.So what is this free thing that we're talking about, Ralph?

So this is really cool.And I've known about this for probably five or six years.You can go to the United States State's Postal Service and you can set up a thing where they will send you an email every morning of the mail that you're going to receive that day.It's images of all your e of your mail coming in.And it's really kind of slick.My wife and I sometimes in the morning, she said, what's coming into mail today?Because I'll get that email.And unfortunately, you see all the junk mail you're going to get, too.

Yeah.

Now you might be saying, okay, what does this have to do with finance?What does this have to do with personal finance?Well, here's the thing, if you get checks in the mail, if you get any kind of important mail.I'm not going to say bad things about the postal service, but sometimes the postal service doesn't quite get the stuff to your mailbox or.Let me tell you a story, Juliette.You ready for a story?Here's a little story.So I told her about.I used to work at the credit union.So this one day, it's a Friday, busy day at the credit union, and I'm sitting at my desk, and all of a sudden, I hear this fracas going on on the teller line.And this one of our tellers is out there screaming.She's carrying on.So I go running.I don't know if we were getting robbed or what, but she was working in the drive up.And I walk back to her, and she has a check in her hand.She's going, look, Ralph.Look, look, look, look.Look at this check.I'm like, what's going on?And she goes, the check.It's mine.It's mine.And I said, what do you mean, it's yours?So come to find out, this particular person had stolen a box of checks from this teller's mailbox.

Oh, my God.

And talk about how unlucky this thief was.Then went to the credit union to cash a check, and the person working at the teller line is the person's check that she stole.

That's crazy.

So I said to the teller, I said, have that lady come around because we don't have enough money to give out in the.In the drive.You need to come around.So this lady.I would have been gone.I'd have been out of there.The lady comes, stands in the lobby.Now, the lobby is busy.So I call a friend of mine who's a local policeman, and he comes down to the credit union, and he walks in the door.He already knew her.Her name was Peaches.And he says, well, I guess we got you again, Peaches.Moral of the story.Know what's coming into your mailbox.Because this was the craziest thing.Like, think about the likelihood of you steal somebody's check.

Yeah.

And then you go to the very place where that person is working.And not only do you go to that place, the person who's working is the person that's waiting on you.So go to USPS.com, type the address.Don't search for it again.There's lookalike sites for this, but get and sign up for what's called informed delivery.That's what it's called.Informed delivery.I have it.It's great.It takes about 10 minutes.They verify who you are.That way you get an email every morning with pictures of the letter size mail arriving at your address that day.It also works if you're in an apartment.So that's a great thing.It will not image packages.But I will tell you now, they've got this little thing at the bottom where it'll tell you that if you're expecting packages, it'll tell you who those packages are from.So if you've got dividend checks coming, settlement checks coming, did we talk about open enrollment?All of those things, you need to make sure you get them.And it's sometimes the cheapest insurance in the whole show to know what you're expecting to get.

That is true.

Which actually leads me right to this.You know that envelope that's on your desk right now?You know exactly what it is.It's been there for two weeks now.It's not urgent enough to make a special trip to the post office, but it's one of those things you can't just throw away.So it just sits.Well, stamps.com puts real postage on it from your own printer and then you can get the carrier to actually come out to your door and get it.No trip, no standing in line.And the best part of stamps.com, you get 30 days for free.And then they've got plans starting at 14.99amonth.If you're more interested in more information, go to becoming financiallyconfident.com stamps again.That's becomingfinanciallyconfident.com stamps.

I'm really excited for this segment called An Accountant Reacts because Ralph is nervous.He really doesn't know what I'm going to do.Talk and bring up.

I have no idea what Juliet is fixing to ask me.And if I sound like a bumbling idiot, I apologize ahead of time.

That's totally fine.I will cut you off if you, if you want me to, I will say this.This is the inaugural segment for, for this segment, I.If you guys have any questions, put it in the chat too.And then I'll just like start collecting them and pepper Ralph, because we plan on doing this every single Thursday.All right, Ralph, are you ready?

I'm ready.Let's go.

All right.Have you heard of the story of Dejan Love?

Dejan Love?No, I have not.

Okay, so this is actually like pretty recent.So Dejan Love is a 35 year old who posed as a San Francisco 49ers and basically part of a love scam.He was charged with wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.And he defrauded 26.Sorry, sorry, I should say allegedly because you know, allegedly.

I get it.

Yeah, allegedly defrauded 26 women out of $1.3 million.And the way that he did it, he also had, I guess like one of his, what do you, what do you call it?Sound like the assistant, but like part of your.

Like an associate.

Like an associate, yeah, yeah.

Criminal associate.

Allegedly.Allegedly.

Yes.Let's be careful.A alleged criminal associate.

Yeah.An 18 year old named Taylor Chan who, who posed as a, like a financial advisor.And so I would want to hear like your reactions to this love scam.Have you ever met a situation where somebody has been love scammed as well?

Oh boy, are you right.I got a story.I'm glad you asked this question.I wasn't expecting you to ask this question.So there is someone that I know who went through a real.And she just passed away.So I can talk about this story and I won't be offending anybody.She was a client of mine for probably 15 years and she's a single lady, didn't have anybody in her life besides a couple of family members.And she got cancer.And when she got cancer, she went through a really tough time of dealing with cancer.Well, she ended up befriending somebody online that she thought was a professional, like multi platinum winning singer.And this person made a relationship with this person.And $250,000 later, you heard me right.

Yeah.

This client realized that she had been scammed.But here's how she realized she had been scammed.Waited ready for this.Part of the scam was there was this network out in California or Nevada, can't remember which, and they actually were getting fraudulent mortgage backed loans.And they were.And they were saying to this particular client, hey, can you sign for these documents?She did.She ended up giving criminal charges from the state.And that's how she became aware of this, because she got a call saying that she needed to come to the state to surrender because the judge had ordered her to be held because she was being charged criminally.She had no idea what was going on.

I have a question here.Like did she know, like you said, she was the one who was signing these documents?Was she aware that she was assigning documents that maybe she didn't realize where they were going?

So what was going on?Is this, this singer who, I don't want to use his name, I just don't think it's a good idea to use his name.But was, was.He was talking to her every day.He was texting her.He was.They never quite got to meet.He would always say, we're going to meet when I'm in this town for this concert.But then it would always fall through.So I, I don't know the specifics of this, but what I understand is he said to her, hey, I. I have this business deal.Can you help me with this business deal?And that's why, that's how she got involved.It's like the, what do they call that?The.The catfish.It's like the definition of this.And it sounds like that guy.You're talking about the exact same thing.And, you know, and the sad part of it is it takes people when they're in an emotionally drained position.Like this particular lady, she was literally dying of cancer.And this no good rat, I'm going to say, that took advantage of this woman.$250,000, Right?And here's the thing.She should have known better.I can't tell you what she did for a living, but she did stuff for a living that she should have known better.And I never, like you said, when she told me, like, my jaw dropped.I was like, what?And here's the saddest part of the whole thing.She explains all this to me and says, I wonder if it still really is him.

Ralph, I hear that when I hear stories of love scams, similar love scams.Like, there's always that feeling of, like, I hope that this isn't actual humanity.Like, like, I hope somebody isn't able to do this so ruthlessly.

You know, my heart broke for this woman because I think about, this is a person that was.She was going through chemotherapy and radiation.She was having a tough time of it, and person came alongside of her and was, I love you and I'm hoping you're having a better day today.But the whole time was just this.Milking her for as much money as he could get.There are special places in hell for people like that.I really believe that.

I have a question of, like, if you are the victim of a love scam, are there any ways to get back your money?Or like, what, what, what can you do after you find out?

Well, number one thing, contact the police.Number one thing.And it's an embarrassing thing.A lot of people don't want to talk about it.But contact the police, you're going to feel like an idiot.You're going to feel like, I can't believe I got taken.But do that because here's the thing I'm going to tell you.You are generally not the only person like the one you talked about here.There's a whole list of people.So if you can put.Are you going to get your money back?Man, that's doubtful because most of the time that money has long been spent.It's been sent off, sure, it's gone.You can try.But the bigger issue is just alert the authorities so they're aware of it and then other people can not get scammed as well.

Is there the right authority?Because I just imagine, you know, local police is probably going to not be the right place.

Well, you have to start there because most jurisdictions, the way crime works is you have to report it in the jurisdiction where you live.But that's one of those things where if it's multi state, FBI might get involved.It could be the Joint Terrorism Task Force.But unfortunately you got to start in the jurisdiction where you live.But you're right, right, Juliet, you might get, you know, Barney Fife, who is like, you know, somebody that doesn't.You probably don't know who Barney Fife is, but Barney Fife was from an old, from Mayberry.I can't think of one of these old television shows.And he was the, he was the town sheriff and he was kind of like the laughingstock, like the Keystone Cop.You might get that person.So you might need to be a little bit more persistent and say, listen, I want a police report.Hey, can you send this out to other agencies?I don't know if they will or not, but you at least need to start there.There are federal, you know, you can go from, you know, the different Federal Trade Commission.You can talk about things like that.But unfortunately you probably lost money and learned a valuable lesson.

Yeah, that's true.All right, I have the next question for you.It is, what is a really bad financial advice that you've received?

Really bad financial advice that I received something that I received.

It doesn't have to be the most bad, but it's just like.

No, just some bad financial advice that I.Right, that's a really good question.Oh, I'll tell you something.So I had somebody once tell me, hey, what you should do is you should get a bunch of credit cards so that your utilization ratio is low.Yeah.So the guy actually said to me, he says, here's how you can.Because my credit was bad.I was very honest about this yesterday.There was a point in my life where my credit score was like in the mid-500s.It was ugly.And I said, well, how can I repair this?And this dude, one of these.I was online, I was like, oh, we can help you fix your credit.He said, go get these credit cards.And he went to these particular sites, and here's where I didn't realize it at the time.Each of those credit cards had this ridiculous annual fee, like five, six hundred dollars.

Oh, my gosh.

But his whole thing was, hey, if you get this, you know, you can get credit here, you can get credit here, and it's going to help you build your credit score.And did it help me build my credit score?Sure.Because they were open accounts.I paid them every month.

I.

But what did it cost me?How much did I have to pay in annual fees that I didn't need to pay?That's one of the big pieces of.I'll tell you one, though.Here's one that a client got ready for this one.So elderly client comes to me one tax season and says, guess what, Ralph?I decided that I'm going to do a reverse mortgage on my house.A reverse mortgage is like.So what that means is instead of you paying a mortgage, you own your house outright.And then you say, hey, give me money, and then when I die, you can take the house.It's basically what a reverse mortgage is.

I didn't know that existed.

Yeah, it's a whole thing.We probably have to do a show about it at some point.You see a lot less of those now.But this particular older fella, he did a reverse mortgage.And I said, okay, so what did you do with the money?He says, ralph, I'm scared of the banks.And I said, okay, okay, it's in my mattress.

Money in the ground.

It's in my Mattress.He took $150,000 in a reverse mortgage, put it under his mattress, and I just looked at him.I. I just looked at him and I'm like, Julie, I thought to myself, like, dude, seriously?Now, that particular scenario was interesting because this reverse mortgage force, oh, this is going to be safe, you know, you don't have to worry about it.And it's like, dude, you just made super complicated because now you owe money on this reverse mortgage.And the way it works is they advance you the money, but you still pay interest on that.

Oh, is it?

You just don't have to make a payment.So think, here's basically the way I have reverse mortgage works.Let's say that you have a house that's worth $200,000, okay?You own it outright, you don't have a mortgage on it.

Right.

They will give you a reverse mortgage for a hundred thousand dollars.They'll rate you a check for a hundred thousand dollars right now?

Yep.

They give you the money, and then what happens is now you have to be a certain age because they want.They're playing a game here of how long you're going to live, to be blunt.Okay, so you.You get up, you borrow $100,000, but you don't have to pay it back.So what happens is every month, whatever that interest is on that $100,000 gets added to it.So at the end of the first year, you owe 101,000 or 110,000, whatever.And then at some point when you pass away, the house is sold, Right.They pay off whatever the remaining balance of that, of that reverse mortgage is, and whoever the beneficiaries are get the rest of the money.Yeah, but there are so many loopholes to this.If you're in the hospital for more than 30 days, they can take the house from you.I mean, this is.We don't see quite as much on the news and all that because these things have really been regulated down.But.But this particular guy, I felt so bad for him because he literally took the money from the reverse mortgage and put it in his mattress because he was scared of the banks.

I will say, like, I've definitely read stories of.There are people who do that, right.Like, they take the money they bury in the ground, they put it in the mattress.And part of that is because of the trauma that they have experienced.Like maybe they grew up having nothing and experienced war or something very traumatic.And that is their response to it.

Yeah.And you can't blame them because.No, it's.Right.It's what they came from.You know, if you came from a place where, you know, you were worrying about, you know, how you're going to eat today.If you looked and you saw your parents were constantly fighting and struggling about money, if the electric was getting shut off, if the car was being repossessed, if you came home from school and there's a big eviction notice on the front door.Yeah, that's trauma that you're going to take with you for the rest of your life.And it's kind of like what Karen.We had the relationship personal.Last week, Karen was talking about that.And that's where.When you have two people that join together in a marriage or something like that, you're bringing all that stuff with you.So if you've lived that experience you got to recognize that that is an experience that you might not have had, but somebody else had.And now you're trying to partner together.This is, it's, it's a big deal that, that those emotional trauma things carry into our money more so than people even realize.They're really a big deal.

That's very true.I think that is it for today's segment of this.How do you, how do you feel for this first one?

I feel pretty good.What do you think?How did I do?

I thought you did pretty good too.It's interesting conversation to me.

Yeah.So.And you know what?I've been around for so long, I can always find a story to tell for sure.

So 30 years in accounting means Ralph has seen some things.As we can tell from the last segment.Today, we are going to talk about timeshares and we have, both of us have stories, but I want to hear Ralph's first.What is your experience with timeshares?

Yeah, so, you know, it's interesting, like I've seen a lot of these things in my practice over 30 years of doing accounting work because one of the things that people do is they deduct the interest that they pay on these.They deduct the property taxes on these.But, but I got a story.Okay, so my wife's mother and father, my in laws, and this has probably been 20 years ago.They had a house, they had a farm, they had a couple horses.

And Ralph, before we get into it, I think you need to describe what a timeshare is for anybody who doesn't.

Well, we can start there.So a timeshare is a property that you own a fractional part of.What I mean by fractional means you have so many days a year where you're allowed to go and use this property.So rather than the traditional, I went and bought a house, you bought a house, but you only have so many days in the house.So you're basically.That's why they call it a timeshare.You're sharing the time of your, of this.And most of them are resorts, they're condos.They're places where you want to go and travel like Vegas or Nashville or Pigeon Forge in Tennessee.There are all kinds of places where you see these type of things.And the appeal to them is that, hey, you can have a ownership in something.You can own this.And that's what they convince everybody about.They tell you, hey, we're going to take.And this is what I was going to tell you this story, but what it does is they wine and dine you and they make you buy something that you probably shouldn't buy.

Go into your story because you know I will share mine.I got my parents into a timeshare and I feel really bad about it.But let's start with your story.

Yeah.So what I was saying is my in laws had a farm.They had three Arabian horses, beautiful horses.But they needed some upkeep on their house.So they had gone to the bank and they had gotten a home equity line of credit with the idea that they were going to do some repairs.They had a deck that was falling apart.They were going to do some repairs.

Yeah.

When in the interim, I guess one of them saw this ad where you could go to Las Vegas for free.They were going to fly you to Vegas, they're going to put you up in a five star hotel, they're going to give you free meals, and all you have to do is just attend a couple conferences about this new property that's opening up in Vegas.

Yep.

So my in laws took the trip to Vegas and I'll never forget this, it was a Sunday morning and the phone rings and my wife answers the phone, it's her mom on the phone.And she goes, you're never gonna believe this.Your dad and I just bought a multi million dollar condo in Las Vegas.And I looked around, I'm like, what?

No you didn't.

They spent, listen to this, $25,000 in cash.

Yeah.

And they took out a mortgage because here's the thing, that fractional ownership, you can also get a mortgage for that.

Yeah.

So they took out, they took $25,000 and don't hold me, it was about that much.And at the same time they took out a mortgage and they were just super excited about it.

Yeah.

And my wife and I look at each other like seriously, like really?They came back to their house, that still needed work, but they just spent money on this timeshare.And it turned out like it was a nice timeshare, but they never used it because they didn't want to go back to Vegas again.

That's the whole point of timeshares, is like.Yeah, you get the reason why you're, they're giving you a fractional, I don't even want to say like a fractional piece of like a house or a condo or whatever because that's not even it.You're like buying fake invisible things.Like it's non tangible, but you're buying minutes.

You're basically buying minutes.

You're buying minutes and they're banking on the fact that, oh, you will not optimize the thing that you bought.

So tell us your story, because now this one sounds like a. Oh, boy.This one sounds like a. Oh, I feel.

I feel this is one of my big, like, guilty things because I'm just like, I'm the one who got my parents into this.And it was exactly what you said.I. I don't think it was Las Vegas, but it was somewhere else.But it was a fine hotel.And they.Whatever this hotel was, was like, yeah, come stay.And, you know, listen to these conventions.These conventions are so frustrating because they're either super early in the morning and you have to.You have to attend them in order to get the free stay, right?So it's like, I think it took about four or five hours.And they just go like, oh, let me tell you.Sell you this, like, pretty shiny thing.And then afterwards, you get into a room and you're doing one on one with one of their salespeople, and the salespeople is still selling you the stream.And I was so young, I.My thing is, like, I can't control my face.I have a lot of facial expressions.And so at the very beginning, I was like, I don't believe you.I don't believe you.But then I forget at what point this person said something, and I was like, oh, my God.I think this is actually quite nice.Right.And then I ended up spending time convincing my parents to get into the timeshare, and now they're in the timeshare, and I feel really guilty about it, and I want to figure out how to get out.Ralph, please help if you can.

Yeah.So a couple things.Number one thing you need to understand, and Juliet just said it, the folks that sell these are some of the best salespeople on the planet.These people are amazing.And they make you feel.They make you feel fantastic.They make you feel like, oh, you're an owner of a multimillion dollar place.I want to throw some numbers out there and then we'll talk about how to get out of this.

Yeah.

The average initial timeshare loan, now this data's from 2024, was $23,160.That's their own trade association saying that the typical new purchase for one week, what they call a deeded week.We talked about deeds earlier in the show.For one week to purchase, that is between 16,000 and 23,000.That's a big number.But here's the problem with all of that, because you might be Saying, well, Ralph and Juliet, what's the problem here?Here's the problem.Not only did you pay for it, but you're going to get billed for maintenance fees.The average maintenance fees for one week in one of these places is fifteen hundred and fifty dollars a year.You're also going to be paying taxes on these things.And here's the sick little thing.You are also going to be subject to changes in the condo or change if they decide to put a new roof on.You're going to pay your share of that.You're going to pay your share.

One of those things.You know how we talked earlier about, like if you have a variable rate for your credit card, they are allowed to change that rate based off of whatever.Whatever thing they deem is.That's part of the formula.Right.It's like the same thing with the timeshare.Exactly.Like if they say maintenance fees are going to go up, then you kind of have to.

Yeah, you got no choice.Because either that or you just let it go.But if you still have a loan on how you do that.Let's get to your.Your question then.So every single state has what they call a timeshare law that requires a rescission window.Rescission means the right to decide.That guy just scanned me.Or, you know, they talked.The silver tongue devil.You ever heard that?No.He is a silver tongue devil.Told me so.Most states, in fact, when I did my research, every state has this.The problem is they're short.I don't want to quote days because it depends on the state.

Right.

But it's in the contract.But most people just are so excited.Oh, we can't wait to do this.Now the Federal Trade Commission has brought enforcement action against timeshare exit companies because that's another thing that's been popping up.If you watch any TV or if you're online, you hear this show talking, shout out guy, he goes, I'll get you out of your timeshare.I see this guy all the time.

Yeah, yeah.

But even those guys are scammers, too.I'm not saying that particular one is, but the Federal Trade Commission has brought enforcement against these exit companies because here's what they do.Like, think about how bad this is.You've already put a lot of money out front for this.Then these timeshare exit companies says, send us $10,000 and we'll get you out of this.Look at me split.So now you're spending more money again.

Yeah.

So you're already out on average.Five figures for these things.

That's true.

So here's what you do.If you own one of these.

Yeah.

What you look at before you do anything else, find the contract that you sign and write down two numbers.

Okay.

The most important numbers are what you paid and what you're paying every year right now to keep this thing.

Okay.

Because most people have no idea what those two numbers they might recollect.Well, we paid 25,000 for this, but remember, it's your down payment plus whatever you financed because sometimes they'll, they talk you into this finance and usually the rates suck.But so that's the two things.Number one thing, what you paid and what you're paying each year for this, because those things are important.And if you signed it recently, like if you're listening or watching us and you just did this last week, look for the rescission clause in that particular contract.Every state with a timeshare law has a cancellation window.It's short.

Right.

It might not be on the contract, but it's on their website.Now if you're trying to get out of an older one like Juliet's right now, she's being very honest that her parents are in this one.Number one thing, don't pay a large fee upfront to a company that promises it can cancel your contract.

Okay.

Like I said, the Federal Trade Commission has taken action against some of those companies.But start for free, your state attorney general's consumer Division and the FTC, the ftc.gov, neither of those are going to sell you anything.Go and see what free resources are out there.I will tell you that I've worked with some people that basically just gave them back, just said, I'm just going to forego this deed.I don't expect any money for it.The particular one I was telling you about, my in laws ended up selling it to a family friend for like $5,000.

But isn't that just like kicking it to somebody else?

Well, yeah, but I guess they're out of it this way.And they were out of it from the perspective they don't have to pay those annual maintenance fees or those quarterly assessments.So for them, and that's why I say write down those two numbers, you may very well have lost money.You may have lost five figure money.

Right?Right.

But what is it going to cost you every year?And here's the funniest thing about this whole story.So this particular one in Vegas, they also had a network they could use other resorts that were owned by the same Company, Same thing.A lot of times shares do that and they sell you on that.Well, if you can't go to Vegas, you can go to New York City, you can go to Pigeon Forge, you can go to Salt Lake City, wherever you want to go.So here's the funny part of this.So we decide we're going to do a family trip to Disney World, right?And my in laws said, you know what?Hey, here's what we can do.We can use the timeshare.

Yeah.

So they went ahead and booked theirs.Here's the funny thing.They had to pay a change fee.So per night they had to pay a change fee.Well, we didn't want to stay in the same unit they stayed in because we had the two kids at the time.And I said to my wife, I said, let me go see if I can find a condo in that same area.You're gonna.You're gonna crack up when I tell you this.

It's so much cheaper.

It was cheaper for me to rent the place.It was cheaper than the change fee they paid.So they had already paid money for the condo that they bought in Vegas.They were switching out their week, and then they charged them another fee to change it.And I was able to book the exact same condo right next door for less than what they paid in the change feed.And they were an owner.

Can I ask, like, how long ago was that?Because one of the things that timeshares do is they also sell you on the fact that things in life are just going to get more and more expensive.But we're going to lock you in in this rate, and this is what you're going to get forever.

Yeah.Like I said, this was about 20 years ago.

Oh, okay.Yeah.

But, Juliet, I've got clients that have multiple of these, and I got some clients that love them.I got some clients that, like, I've got this week in this place, I've got this week in this place.I've got this.And they will tell you that these are the best things on the planet.They love them.So I'm not going to sit here and say that timeshares are all bad.

Like, if you know how to use it and you find the worst.

Read the reviews of the timeshare.Go visit the property when they're not grabbing you and taking you and dancing you around.Like, I mean, they put my in laws in limousines from the airport and, you know, all this amazing food.Because they're overwhelming you.Because here's what they're doing.They're really playing a game with your emotions.They're trying to get you to say yes.Because as soon as you start saying yes, then all what they say, all intention goes out the window.

Oh, you just reminded me one other tactic that they use, like when you go to their conference thing is they go, if you leave this room right now, this is, we are going to record your name.And if you ever come back, this is not this right now.This is going to be the lowest price you'll ever get.Like, that's another tactic that they use.

And that's one of the things you just pointed to in anything that you're doing financially.If someone is pressuring you, if someone is putting a time window in front of you, nine times out of 10, that person is not doing things in your best interest.

Yeah.

When somebody is telling you, you need to act now.When somebody is telling you, hey, if you leave the room, you're never going to get this opportunity again.If somebody's telling you, you're going to be on our blacklist if you leave today.

Yeah.

Nine times out of 10, that's not a good situation.Run the other direction.Second thing I'm going to tell you, a lot of people will say, well, let me call my accountant and ask them what they think of this.

Right.

And what the timeshare salesperson say, oh, no, they're not going to understand it.Yeah.You, you know, you got.If somebody ever tells you not to call an expert or tells you not to call your family or not to call somebody that you trust.So if they're, if they're making it immediate and they're telling you, don't ask for assistance on this again, I'm going to use a higher number.Maybe nine and a half times out of 10, these folks are not looking out for your best interest.

Right, right, right.So I think one of the things I want to do is just sit down with my parents and, you know, evaluate is the timeshare actually.Okay.If it's actually worth it.Right.I think the reason why I feel so guilty about it is after the fact, you know, it's been several years when I think about that conferen and then how I feel so emotionally manipulated.I.That's where a lot of my guilt and my shame comes from.

Yeah.And the thing is, on this show, there's no shame.But.But I understand why you feel that way.I seriously do.Because you are a bright person and you got taken into this, you got sucked into it.And this is what they do.They sell you on an experience.Oh, you.This is such.And they probably told.I didn't ask you this, but what specifically looking back at it now, what was the specific thing that really made it, oh, this is why I got to do this.Like, what was that one or two things that really meant I got to do this?

I.If I remember correctly, it was, I think at the time I just felt impending doom in the world where it's like, yeah, all the costs are going to go more expensive.And they're saying they're trying to show me because it was me that they got right, not my parents.It was me they were showing to show me.Like, oh, we promise that these rates are not going to change that, oh, once you lock these rates, no matter how expensive it gets later down in the future, then it's not going to change.And I think it was that promise of a constant and a forever of the whatever low price that we locked it in as where.Yeah, I think I should just go in and take a look and see if they actually fulfilled their side of the promise, you know?

Was it for you, you felt like an opportunity for the family to travel together?Was there like, hey, we can go to this place as a family.It'll be a great time to spend time with mom and dad.So did they pull you in with that emotion as well?

I.Yes, yes.Right.Because like my family, we are huge outdoor people.And so it's like, oh, you want to go to Hawaii, one of the big islands?Well, we have a location on the big island.Or they also have locations on Blue Ridge Parkway, which I don't know if you've ever been, but, oh, Shenandoah Valley.

Blue Ridge is amazing.I took a motorcycle trip down there.What a great time.

Let me tell you when that year that I was doing a cross country road trip on the US across the.

US hold on, hold on a second.You haven't shared this with the audience.You need to tell us a little bit more here.So are you telling me you did a cross country road trip of the United States?Did you do it by yourself?

Like 95% I did it by yourself.

We got to take a couple minutes.You got to tell us about this.

Well, it was.So I used to live on the east coast in Boston, and after a while I was like, I think I'm ready to go back to California.And so instead of just flying and shipping everything over, I was like, I can work remotely.Decided to drive across the country for about a year.

Not exactly a year, but about 365 days.Wow, that's a serious road trip.

It was like 10 months, so whatever.365 Minus, you know, two months.Yeah, it was really beautiful.I decided to drive mostly through the south of the United States and got to see a lot of different culture out there.Like I was surprisingly.I love like St. Louis and Tennessee, the, like the North Carolinas I also really like.The one place that I wanted to go is the Blue Ridge Parkway.But I happened to.It happened to be the week that Blue Ridge Parkway closed down because it's so high up.So they closed down for when the weather gets really scary.And I think I was close to winter, so it was like mid fall.

Yeah, that's the time of year where there's ice storms and snowstorms and those roads are super narrow and they're super steep.

Yeah.And so I have never been able to go to the Blue Ridge Parkway.And so this timeshare thing, one of the locations, or they have many locations around the Blue Ridge Parkway and a lot of, around a lot of nature.And I was like, oh, I think this would be really great for me and my family to go check out, check it out, you know.And so like I said, the whole feeling like I was emotionally manipulated into convincing my parents to get a timeshare, that's where I feel the most guilt.Even though I haven't really followed up and see, oh, did this actually play out in our favor in our, like, because.Because my family does use the timeshare, optimize it, you know, so we are doing that.We're making sure we're actually using it.I just don't know.I think I just feel too much guilt.

And see, that's the thing.A lot of people that buy these timeshares don't use them because they can't figure out a week that works for them or they don't want to pay the upgrade fee to go somewhere else.I'll give you one more piece of advice.If you're thinking about buying a timeshare instead of doing that realistically, sit down and figure out how many days a year can you actually be traveling.I'll give you an example of this.Like, my wife and I at one point thought about buying a rv, like a high end RV to travel across the state.

I still think you guys should do it.

And I think that would be really fun.But then when I looked at the numbers and I said, realistically, how many days as I'm still working could I actually take for vacation?

Right.

Do the Same thing.And say, even if you stayed at the most luxurious five star resort for every one of those days, how much would it cost you?I would be willing to bet that it's going to cost you less than most of these timeshares because the reality is you just don't have.You just don't have the time.If you take 10 months, that's a different story.But even in 10 months, a timeshare is not going to help you with that because you only buy a week or two weeks.So again, that's not going to work for you.But I just, I just think this is one of those things.What it cost me, it's cost a lot of people a lot of money.And that's why the Federal Trade Commission has gotten involved.State Attorney Generals have gotten involved because they play this manipulation, this emotional game of trying to get you to make a quick decision.Sign here.And a lot of them, you don't have to put any money down.They'll just finance the whole thing because they've got a deal with the bank.So they're making bank on the interest at the same time.

Yeah, yeah.I think I have nothing else to say about this timeshare.I think I feel so much better talking to you about this because there's a list of, a short list of things that I also want to sit down with my parents and just figure out, you know, do we want to get out of it?Is, is it optimized?Is it, is it still worth it?And then now, if we do want to get out of it, I have a list of things to look into.The general consumer division and then the ftc.

And one of the things you just said I think is really important.

Right.

Talking it out with somebody.

Yeah.

Sharing how you feel.Because so many times when we make decisions that we're not proud of or decisions that we feel guilty about, if you just let that linger in the dark, it just gets worse.

Yeah.

So that's my takeaway for this whole segment, is if you feel like you've got something, talk about it, send it into the show, we'll talk through it.We're not going to make you feel bad about it.We're not going to make you feel like you made a dumb decision.Hey, listen, we all make decisions we'd rather not make, but to talk about it.I think there's therapy in having a discussion because you might not think of something that we might think of or you might think of something that we don't think of.That's why this show is so important to be an interaction between us and the audience.Because what Juliet just said is crucial.What did she say?She said, I feel better just talking about this.

Yeah.And that's huge.I'll say one more thing before we go on to the next segment is that you know what our house rule for the show is like, no shame.Right.But it's no shame on other people because you never know what.What they were in when they made these decisions.But it's also getting to a point where you also relieve the shame from yourself.

Absolutely.And that's sometimes.That's the harder part.That is sometimes it's harder to let go of the thing, the shame that you have.

Yeah.

Like sometimes easy to forgive somebody else, but can you really forgive yourself?And that's one things that I'm going to encourage Juliet to work on.Let yourself understand that your parents ultimately made this decision themselves.Right?

Yeah.

And they're using it and they're using.

It and they're using it.

So they're getting value from it.So.And I understand what you're saying.You're the one that directed them to that.But ultimately they're adults and they made a decision and they're getting value from it.So don't beat yourself up, Juliet.

Yeah.Okay, next section.

Well, let's talk about this.Let's say you lent your brother in law $4,000.There's no paper underneath of that and there's never going to be because he's family.I've watched that exact same scenario, that exact same loan end a Thanksgiving dinner with people throwing plates at each other.And that's why we have a relationship with Law Depot.Law Depot helps you build those boring documents that prevent those issues like that.You can build a promissory note, a bill of sale, rental agreement, and it guides you through questions that even I can understand.They're built for your state and you can print it right from there.And here's the best part.You can get a free trial.Go to becomingfinanciallyconfident.com lawdepot again, that's becomingfinanciallyconfident.Com lawdepot and I'm going to say something about this particular company.I use them personally.They are a great company.They've got a ton of different legal documents.I'm not an attorney.I can't give you legal advice.But check out becomingfinanciallyconfident.com lawdepot.

Oh, okay.Quick reminder for everybody.We always have a money move of the week.And this week the money move is to open a high yield yield savings account.This is separate, different from a traditional savings, a high yield savings account and set up an automatic transfer.Now I know we're about to check in with me and I will say, Ralph, I planned on waking up super early today and just setting up my automatic transfer but I woke up late.

And in Juliet's defense, we've been doing a lot of stuff and planning for the show.We've been having a lot of extra meetings and Juliet is also west coast so this is still early for her.So Juliet, you got a little bit more time, my friend, but the clock is ticking.

It's okay.We, I, we're going to check in with everybody on Friday and this is a call out for everybody.If you do not have a high yield savings account right now, go open one up and then we are going to get through this together.We're going to very soon launch some two week challenges, 10 day challenges where we're all going to save together.And you can choose whatever amount it is, like $5, $10, a lot of money.Then you can do like $500, whatever, whatever you want, you know.And we are going to all build wealth together.

Absolutely.Well, let's talk about tomorrow's show.Tomorrow on this show is going to be Friday, which I love Fridays.We're going to talk about the bill.The bill is understanding your automo automobile insurance bill.A lot of people don't know what's included in that.We've got a, we've got at least one listener voicemail message.We're going to play.We might get some other ones.We're gonna check up on our homework and then we're gonna share our wins of the week.So it's going to be another action packed Friday.So bring your wins of the week.Let's talk about the homework.And if you've got a question for the show, remember becoming financiallyconfident.com voicemail because we've got a couple voicemails.We're gonna play at least one of them tomorrow.But you could hear your own voice on this show.

We wanna hear your voices.That's really, that's really it.

That's why we do what we do.

That's it.So that is it for today's episode of becoming financially confident.

I'm Ralph Estepp Jr. And I am Juliet.And again, like I said, if you've got a question you want us to talk about on the show, becoming financiallyconfident.com and don't forget, you can join us tomorrow.And as always, becoming financially confident is all about breaking free from money.Shame.One conversation at a time.Have a great Thursday and we will see you again tomorrow.

Bye.